First Impressions

Originally Posted by Sneaky_seal
Guys, let's share our first impressions in this thread.

Thought I'd keep this thread going rather than create a new one. Lots of great reading and a variety of experiences are related here.

I'm about a week into my first time ever playing this game. I decided to jump headlong straight into Tactician mode without too much fuss; wanting to be challenged and immersed in the game. Thus far it has well and truly delivered - it has really been a tough start. I just finished up the Radeka witch fight and feel close to getting off the first island - all this in a crazy 49 hours. I've been having fun experimenting with a lot with fights where I've struggled to win to get a greater feel for combat, which has really inflated my play time.

1. What character did you pick? What do you think of the character creation?

I went for a conservative dwarf warrior type; focusing on warfare and single handed.
Character creation was great without being overwhelming and I got the sense of the character I wanted to play straight away. On the whole, I'm engaging with the skill system much more so than I did with the first game. That may be partially due to playing on tactician - as I never did that with the first game.
I also took on Beast and had this wacky idea of an all round "stunty" party, but don't know if that'll be possible. (I've also got Ifan and Lohse)

2. What do you think of your first few hours in the game?
I struggled to really find enough encounters I could cope with at first and so my progress was quite slow, but I expected this. Sometimes the environments can feel too busy with the surface elements which occasionally affects my enjoyment, but I really like the sense of discovery and the layers which come from greater exploration in the game. Finding a new strategic idea in a fight that works can feel really rewarding and exciting. That openness to experimentation of approach also makes it fun and encourages one to really take their time.

4. How do you think it fares compared to the first D:OS?
On a par, I would say. I don't really lean one way or the other yet. I'm still not fully sold on the story as a tonal improvement from the first, but hopefully it improves and engages me more somewhere down the line.

Edit:
Just took down Alexandar to end Act 1. Really amazing fight with some unbelievable momentum swings.

The one thing that kind of turns me off is the exponential increases in armor and damage (equipment and enemies) with levels, coupled with randomized diablo loot style. After a few levels all except your best traited stuff is disposable. Don't really like all the fussing with equipment upgrades. It's a bit too much of a time drain.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
The one thing that kind of turns me off is the exponential increases in armor and damage (equipment and enemies) with levels, coupled with randomized diablo loot style. After a few levels all except your best traited stuff is disposable. Don't really like all the fussing with equipment upgrades. It's a bit too much of a time drain.

It is if you want it to be. I for example went to a merchant to buy new stuff like once in a long while, only when I needed to go back to town for some quest and I casually checked the marketplace. Most of my characters' equipment came from loot and 'lucky charm'. Granted, I didn't play on tactician, so maybe playing in that mode does require you to keep your equipment always up to date.

I played on tactician and i don't remember loot being an issue. While I did check stores it was mostly out of curiousity than need for survival or progression. Also my characters were 'junk' with regards to build. I made some mistakes at the start and kept thinking one of these days i'll respect them since it is free but i never got around to it till the last act and then it was too late.

Originally Posted by wolfing
It is if you want it to be. I for example went to a merchant to buy new stuff like once in a long while, only when I needed to go back to town for some quest and I casually checked the marketplace. Most of my characters' equipment came from loot and 'lucky charm'. Granted, I didn't play on tactician, so maybe playing in that mode does require you to keep your equipment always up to date.

!? Arrows are consumables! No knockdown or charm arrows… jeez, that would hurt.

Lucky Charm and quests have been feeding me most of my gear but sometimes there's incredibly good stuff at a vendor. There's also lots of cheap-but-no-buffs stuff. I've started tending toward the latter after blowing my wad on one of the former then finding a better version 15 minutes later.

--

The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views….

Lucky charm at 3 for me drops about every 10th container. Occaisionally it’s useful stuff. But I’ve gotten a lot of crappy rings and belts and boots. Getting items with good buffs means I usually resort to stealing. Having 3 chars who can pickpocket helps. The dwarf in Driftwood will give you +2 thievery gloves if you play your cards right. Make sure to suck up to Butter in Fort Joy.